Combined hotel-register and account-checking system.



No. 851,437. PATBNTED APR. 23, 1907. T. J. RAFTIGAN.

COMBINED HOTEL REGISTER AND ACCOUNT CHEGKING SYSTEM. APPLICATION FILEDAUG. 14, 1906.

MQNEVI JEWELRY, ANOVALUABLLS MUST BE Dl- PQ-:ATED IN rr-1E; (5i-FICEb'AFE, OTHER- vwsz THE PROPRICTQR vvlLL NOT BE. RESPcNsILE FUN ANYl-oeazL n AMOuNTPAlpM/ VCARD RECORD 1300K` y No. 851,437.

UNITED STATES PATENTy OFFICE.

THOMAS J. RAFTICAN, OF YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO. COMBINED HOTEL-REGISTER/ANDACCOUNT-CHECKING SYSTEM..

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 2e, 1907.

Application filed August 14, 1906. Serial No. 336,597.

To aZZ whom, t may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS J. RAFTICAN,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Youngstown, in the county'ofMahoning and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in a Combined Hotel-Register and Account-Checking Sys-1 tem,of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to bdokkeeping systems, and has particularly inview a combined hotel register and account `checking system embodied ina single card or sheet de# signed for registering guests at a hotel anddispensing with the usual hotel `register.

To this end the invention contelnplatesa simple and practical means ofregistering and keeping theaccounts of hotel guests without thenecessity of employing the ordinary hotel register with whichis'associated an elaborate and intricate system of bookkeeping in orderto check up the arrival, time, and departure of a guest, as well as themiscellaneous and extra account. Ordinarily, in the use of the commonhotel register, it is necessary to transfer the entries from it to theledger and also the bookkeepers are compelled to keep i daily entries ofcharges in the ledger against with the guest including the room, meal,and l each' guest.

The above details, in connection with the use of the ordinary hotelregister or bookkeeping system, useof the present invention whichprovides on a single card or sheet means for keeping a complete registerrecord, and also'a complete ledger account for each guest, without thenecessity of-maintaining a register book on the hotel counter ormaintaining any other record than preferably a record book of theindividual cards or sheets, for 'purposesof precaution in maintaining anextra check on the cashier, and a cash book if desired.,

Another important and practical object of F the invention is to combinewith the in. roved register card a tear off coupon y1n the form of ameal ticket, preferably arranged in inverted relation to the printedmatter on the card proper, and affording an, additionalmeans of takingcare of the entire transaction extras accounts.

A practical feature in connection with thetea'r olf cou on is theinverted relation thereo f with re 'erence to the data of the cardproper, whereby the hotel clerk can fill out the coupon or meal ticketwhile the guest'is the individual reglstrycards or sheets. are entirelyobviated by the registering, thus saving time in busy hours.l Also, inthis connection the inverting'of the meal ticket coupon rprevents theguest from registering in the spaces thereon instead of on the registercard proper. Also, the present invention assures privacy as no` registerof guests remains on thedesk open to the inspection of unauthorizedparties.

With these and 'other objects in view, v vhichwill more readily appearas the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consistsin the `novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter morefully described, illustrated and claimed. 1

The essential features of the invention involved in carrying out theobjects above indicated are necessarily susceptible of Ysome structuralmodification without departing from the scope of the invention, but apreferred embodimentthereofis shown in the accompanying drawings, inwhich Figure 1 is a plan view of acard or sheet embodying the presentinvention, showin one end of the meal ticket coupon severe from the bodyof the card roper to illustrate the tear off feature of suc coupon. Fig.2 is a detail plan view of a portion of a sheet or page from the cardrecord book, which may be employed for keeping a tabular record of Thepresent invention is embodied in a single register card or sheetdesignated by the numeral 1, and preferably apad or tablet of thesecards or sheets, in blank, is kept on" the counter or desk of a hotelplace of the ordinary hotel register book, so that one of the cards orsheets is utilized foreach guest. As a part of this register card, thelatter in- ,cludes in and on the same sheet therewith, a

tear off coupon in the form of ameal ticket and designated by thereference letter M. This tear off coupon is separated from/the registercard proper by a transverse tear line 15 formed by scoring orperforating, and pro'\ viding means whereby said meal ticket cou-'J ponM may be torn ofi' in connection with the transaction with each guest.The details of said meal ticket coupon, the arrangementl of matterthereon, ,and its relatiointo lthe register card proper, will behereinafter more par- Io 5.

ticularly pointed out. a

Referrmg now to the detail features of the register `card proper, itwill be observed'from/ Fiml of the drawings that the same is pro vi edon the upper portion thereof `with a rio IOO suitable ,heading such asthe name of the hotel or hotel company, and also the upper portion ofthe card is provided lwith a group of horizontal rulings 2 havinopposite the same the words Name and Residence and over which' lines aredesigned t'o Vbe Written the nameV and residence ofthe registeringguest. The Iines' or 'rulings 2 provide what maybe termed a registeringspace for 'the name and residence of the guest, and within the field ofthis registering space there are also arranged or vspaces 3 ande havingopposite the samel the indications Room" and No respectively, andwhichfspaces are designed to respectively receive therein the number ofthe room-to which the guest is assigned, and the serial ,or recordnumber of the register card itself. I f

Immediately 'beloW the registering space,

for the guest, the card'or sheet 1 is provided with a narrow b1ock5 ofhorizontal rulings crossed by other vertical rulings 7 forming-a Ysingle horizontal row of entry spaces, con- -lstituting what l mayT bepro erly termed a register-record tab e readab e from leftdto right.Each of the entry spaces in said reglster-record table ,5 is separatedfrom the adjacent entry space by double rulings, and

` each of said spaces also has an indicating heading. One' of theseentry spaces in ther re ister-record table located at the extreme let-hand end/of said table, is provided with 4 .a heading consisting ofthe wor'd Arrival and is sub-divided into small blocks or spaces blockLSof vertical and horizontal rulings 9 and 10"L forming a plurality ofvertical columns constituting What may be termed a miscellaneous accounttable having a main title. or headingr preferably consisting of the WordExtras arranged in the space between the `table 5 and the table 8.A

vEach of the vertical columns of the miscellaneous table'or .block 8 isprovided with an` individual indicating heading, and certain of saidcolumns are provided with sub-headings,

so as to cover a great variety of subjects upon which an account may berun against a guest.

The main headings of the vertical columns of the table or block 8 areusually the abbreviations Misc., Ldyf .Telphne,f7 the word ,Telegmsj theWord Express, and theV .tion to the features mentioned, it is word4 Barj and the sub-'headings suggested in the drawings are "Extra.meals,.Service, Cash, Pressing In'addition to the separate tables 5 and 8, adistinctive feature of the invention resides in roviding the card orsheet 1 with vertical lle ger rulings 9 forming a vertical ledger space1() which iscommon to both of the separate tables f5 'and 8.' Thisledger space 1() (ordouble column for dollars Aand cents) is arran edacross one end of these tables orf sets o rulings. Also, the verticalledger space 10 extends across and directly adjoins the the horizontalrulings of these tables extend across the ledger space to constitute apart thereof.

lends of the separate tables 5 and 8, so that The c mmon ledger space 10is headed by 'i the heading Amount, and is provided at thebottomv-totalspace 11 oppositeY which is arranged'the designating words Amounti aid.p Referring nowto`the tear o fl meal ticket coupon M, it will beobserved that the same is arranged in inverted relation to the cardroper 1, that is,the printed matter on the ace, of said coupon isreversed with relation to that on the yard proper, thereby preventingthe guest f om registering on the coupon instead of on the card properwhich would be likely to occur with careless or hurried guests.-

' Also, by` reason of the reversed or inverted arrangement of theprinted matter on the mealticket coupon, the clerk is enabled' to fillout the meal ticket and make the assignment while the guest isregistering, thus savin time in the rush of busy hours.

t will be observed that the meal ticket coupon Mis intended to bearthereon matter corresponding to that onthe card proper, that is', thename of the guest, the date of arrival, room number, and file number, so

vthat there is a complete tally between the meal ticket and the cardproper for the guest.

- To rovide for this, the meal ticket coupon is pre erably'headed by thename of the house or hotel and one corner, is provided with a space 16having opposite the same the indication Room and in the directlyopposite corner the coupon is provided with a space or 4ruling 17 havingthe indication Nof Also,

the meal ticket coupon lis provided with a group of horizontal rulings1'8 designated respectively Nameand Arrived" and providing spaces inwhich are written the naine of the guestv and the date of arrival. Inaridire erable to conspicuously print on the mea ticket coupon'thenotices Please'present at dining room, Deliver to cashier when settlingand fNot transferable.7 Anyother suitable matter may befprinted on thecoupon as well as the card proper, without departing from theinvention.

In connection with the meal ticket coupon IOO . horizontal and verticalrulings it is also preferable to arrange the spaces for the room numberand card number in such positions that When the coupon is attached to-card roper.

Re errmg more articularly to the use of the register car or s eetproper, when a guest arrives at the hotel, he slmply writes his name andaddress inthe top registerinospace of the card. The clerk then writeslthereon the number of his room (481), arrival (7th day of month), andfor dinner indicates by a mark under the abbreviation D Also, the clerkmarks the plan (under A for American plan), and indicates the rate($3.50), and by means of a time or. clock stamp, stamps on the card,preferably upon the back, the exact time of arrival (2 :47 P. M.), seedotted lines in Fig. 1. With this registerrecord upon the card or sheet1, the same is then placed in anV ordinary index iile, such as commonlyemployed for card indexing and other p oses, vand romthat time on thecashier ta es care of the entire matter so that `when the guest is readyto depart and delivers to the cashier his meal ticket coupon the cardproper is removed from the iile and the-cashier can readily compute theresults. For instance, the illustration yen," the cashier notes-,onthe.card-preferally in red ink, the date ofdepar-ture (Feb. 10), number ofdays for which char eis made (3) andthe total amount ofthebilI ($10.50),entering up at the footof'the-ledgerispace 10 the total amount paid($10.50). Of course, if any extras are charged under .the miscellaneousaccount table 8, the same will be added to the regular hotel bili underthe ledger space 10.5 V-

In carrying .out this s stem it maybe de sirable to use a cash boo butit is'preferable to' employwhat is herein termed a card record bookhaving sheets 11a provided with 12 and 13 providing columns havingheadings consisting of. Card No. Room and Name so that a checking recordof each individual card or sheet may be kept. This constitutes meanswhereby an extra check on the cashier can be readily preserved.

I claim: l

1. In a hotel register and checking system, a register card providedwith a plurality of rulings having appropriate desi ations providingspaces for the re istry o a guest and for the keeping and checIdn of hisindividual account, said card being urther rovided at one edge with acoupon having ru gs and designations similar tofcertain of those on thecard proper, and with an indicated tearline between the coupon and thecard proper.

2. In a hotel register and checking system,

V`a register 'card provided with a plurality of rulings havingappropriate designations providing spaces for the registering of a hotelguest and the keeping and checking of his lndividual account, said cardbein further provided with a coupon having ru ings and designationssimilar to certain of those on the card proper but arranged in invertedrelation thereto, the c'ard being also provided with an indicatedtear-line between the coupon and the card proper.

3. In a hotel register and checking system, a single register cardprovided with a group of horizontal rulings near the top thereof, anarrow block of rulings forming alurahty of entry spaces respectivelyhaving eadings consisting` of the Words and abbreviations (Bl-l tn,[(SJ! iLfH ((:De})al, s tin-,6,17 HDarySn uAn HE, :Rate;n a"

separate llarger block of rulings spaced from said narrow blocks andforming a series of vertical columns, each having headings; and a doublecolumn for dollars and cents ruled across one end of and directlyad'oining both v the said narrow and separate b ocks of rul- 1n e ntestimonywhereol I hereunto affix my signature in the presence oftWowitnesses.

THOMAS J. RAFTICAN. Witnesses: M. BAUMAN, JENNIE HUGHsoN.

